International Publication No. WO 98/34179 (PCT/AU98/00050), corresponding to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/108,999, is incorporated herein by cross reference and discloses an electronic publishing system that provides a sparse multidimensional matrix of data using a set of flat file records. In particular, the computer-implemented system publishes an electronic publication using text-based data. Predefined portions of the text-based data are stored and used for the publication. At least one of the predefined portions is modified, and the modified version is stored as well. The predefined portion is typically a block of text, greater in size than a single word, but less than an entire document. Thus, for example, in the case of legislation, the predefined portion may be a section of the Act. Each predefined portion and the modified portion(s) are marked up with one or more links using a markup language, preferably SGML or XML. The system also has attributes, each being a point on an axis of a multidimensional space for organising the predefined portions and the modified portion(s) of the text-based data. This system is simply referred to as the Multi Access layer Technology or “MALT” system hereinafter.
Existing methods of navigating electronic publications have been derived from traditional methods used to navigate printed publications. Typical of these methods is the use of a bookmark, which is merely an indicator which identifies a page or section of interest. Bookmarks are typically limited in the information provided to users. Bookmarks follow a single axis, perhaps indicating the current page, chapter and title of the publication. However, bookmarks do not necessarily provide the user with adequate context pertaining to how the user arrived at the current page. If a user knows the exact publication desired and then navigates through the same publication, a bookmark is probably adequate for the user's needs. In the event that the user has conducted a number of searches and trawled through various versions of diffract documents to arrive at the current page of a publication, it is impossible for a bookmark to capture all the relevant information and provide the user with an adequate reading context. The book metaphor fails to address the abilities and complexities of electronic publications.
Existing methods of navigating compact disc based publications and Internet sites are typically ill-suited to displaying the complex data provided by MALT. Known web solutions, for example, typically handle two axes, sequential and hierarchical, using either embedded links such as Previous, Next and Contents, or expandable content frames, as provided in Windows Explorer. Further axes may be bandled by incorporating embedded links in the body of the text. Such embedded links a point to point, and provide limited navigational value to the user.
Object databases are capable of providing the required finality, but search queries employed by these databases are too complicated for untrained users, both in terms of the complexity and amount of information required.
Thus, a need clearly exists for a detailed context to be provided to users of electronic publishing, overcoming one or more disadvantages of existing systems.